192 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about turning one’s face during the prayer. He replied, ‘It is a snatching that Satan steals from the servant’s prayer.’” Reported by al-Bukhārī (1).

Al-Tirmidhī also transmits, on the authority of Anas—declaring the report authentic: “Beware of turning in the prayer, for it is ruin; but if you simply must, then only in a voluntary prayer.” (2)

Degree of the ḥadith:
In Naṣb al-Rāyah it is noted that the Tirmidhī chain contains ʿAlī ibn Zayd ibn Judʿān, who is weak, and that there is a break between Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and Anas.

Vocabulary:
• ikhtilās: to seize or snatch something swiftly and furtively, taking advantage of the other’s heedlessness.
• yakh­talisuhu (“he snatches it”): employed here to depict the disappearance of humility in prayer—while the worshiper is engrossed in communion with his Lord and Allah is turned toward him, Satan lies in wait; the moment the worshiper turns his face, Satan seizes the opportunity and snatches that state from him.
• iyyāka: the word iyyā is an emphatic object pronoun in the accusative, standing for the unspoken verb “beware,” while the kāf marks the addressee.